After the Enron scandal, it looked as if Clare Spottiswoode might have the Teflon coating of many modern businessmen. Now, following the debacle at near-bankrupt British Energy, I hope she discovers what it is to be an old iron skillet.

It seemed strange that Lord Wakeham was (rightly) thrust into the limelight for his role as non-executive director at Enron earlier this year, while Spottiswoode, who had been senior vice-president of regulatory affairs (!) in Europe for Azurix, Enron's global water business, managed to avoid the scandal.

The point of non-execs, I thought, was to cast an experienced and dispassionate eye over the doings of directors with day-to-day control of companies, protecting shareholders, customers, employees and suppliers against wickedness and incompetence.

But not in Spottiswoode's case. Some might argue that she, above all, should have alerted the authorities to the problems at Enron's subsidiary, having risen to fame in the first place as the much-praised gas industry regulator. Instead, according to her own account, her 'serious concerns' and subsequent resignation happened only after everyone had been scammed.

Later, Spottiswoode said she felt investors in Azurix had been ripped off at the initial public offering. 'I had serious concerns about the way it was being run,' she said, rather grandly, last December. The IPO was a way of offloading the Azurix investment on to other banks. The price of the IPO was very high, and I could not see how, even if the investments were good, it could work.'

It didn't. The shares floated at $19 in June 1999 and were bought back by the company in October 2000 for only $7. Well, thanks a bunch, Clare.

And so to her other incarnations. For a while she worked at PA Consulting, from where she was drafted on to a Gordon Brown initiative called the Public Services Productivity Panel. This panel, now chaired by Paul Boateng (Writedown 12/07/02) has been very productive indeed - more than doubling in size since its inception three years ago. She also has been advising the Government on telecoms (over the head of the regulator) for the past two years - perhaps the worst two years in the history of telecoms in this country.

Last year she joined the board of British Energy and was promoted to deputy chairman a few months later. Gas and electricity are now regulated by the same organisation, Ofgem, so it was no doubt hoped that newly turned poacher Spottiswoode would add some useful insights into dealing with the troublesome regulators.

She said after joining: 'I accepted because I think this is a company which has really serious questions about where it goes.'

Amazingly, she is still there, despite British Energy being now on the brink of bankruptcy and begging for a handout from the Chancellor (perhaps Spotty could help out with that).

I can't help suspecting that in a few months she'll resign because of 'suspicions' that there was something not quite right with the company. Sorry again, shareholders.

Last but not least, cast your mind back two years to the launch of H2go, a business initiative devised by Chris Mellor (Writedown 28/07/02) of Anglian Water. The plan was that H2go, a water and waste management operation, would capture large industrial users by undercutting its rivals. Mellor said at the time that it could be as fundamental a development in the water industry as privatisation had been. Spottiswoode was named chairman. Anglian shares fell immediately and have been in decline ever since.

Unusually, given the fanfare with which H2go was launched, it is not even mentioned in this year's annual report (despite prestige clients such as British Energy), but reading between the lines it seems not to have lived up to its promise: 'We have made good progress in developing proposals for the efficient restructuring of our UK-regulated water and wastewater business. Our intention is to proceed with these plans provided we are satisfied they are in the interests of all our stakeholders and that value for shareholders is secured. Turnover in the UK regulated water and wastewater businesses fell to £696.6m [£735.5m in 2000]. Operating profits for the year were £283.4m, down from last year's £341.2m.' A leading analyst says: 'Anglian appears to have de-emphasised H2go. Spottiswoode has gone uncharacteristically quiet on the subject.'

But go back to the annual report. The words: 'We have made good progress in developing proposals...' stick in the mind. Perhaps because it sort of sums up her last few years.